Senior Policy Counsel to Board Member Harper
Catherine D. Galicia serves as Senior Policy Counsel to NCUA Board Member Todd M. Harper. She served as the NCUA’s Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to Mr. Harper from January 2021 to January 2025, during his tenure as NCUA Board Chairman.
Ms. Galicia has wide-ranging leadership and financial services policy experience, including subject matter expertise in consumer financial protection, and the legislative and rulemaking processes. During her 15 years on Capitol Hill, Ms. Galicia gained bicameral Congressional experience working for Chairmen Christopher J. Dodd and Tim Johnson as senior counsel on the Senate Banking Committee; Senator Evan Bayh as staff director of the International Trade and Finance Subcommittee and Banking Committee counsel; Congressman Jim Maloney as legislative director and financial service policy aide; and Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez as legislative director and financial service policy aide.
She distinguished herself during her tenure on the Hill through work on major pieces of financial services legislation including the Credit Union Membership Access Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While serving as Counsel for Banking Committee Chairman Dodd, Ms. Galicia was an integral part of the team that negotiated and drafted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Ms. Galicia later served as the head of the Office of Legislative Affairs under three directors at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In this role, she managed the CFPB’s communications and interactions with Congress.
Ms. Galicia also worked for Banco Popular as Vice President for Government Affairs, where she led the bank’s Washington office. She served on the Board of Women in Housing and Finance during that time.
Ms. Galicia holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Connecticut and a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers University School of Law. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. She is also an executive sponsor of CULTURA employee resource group.